The sounds of Mozart’s Symphony Nº 7 in D major wafted through the Captains quarters as Jason Devron prepared himself for another day in command.  Sleep was coming more easily to him since the strange events on New Alberta.  In fact he hadn’t slept on the floor once since it happened; which was a very good thing for his neck, if nothing else.  The reverberating hum of the engines or the sounds of classical music was no longer something he needed to lull him to sleep, but Jason had grown to love the mix of melodies and rousing tunes of these long dead composers.

The nightmare of the Borg was still there at the back of his mind, but they had lost their vice like grip on his soul.  You could say he was feeling human again.  Jason smiled slightly at that thought, before grabbing his uniform jacket off the empty bed.

Yes that was another thing; the empty bed.  In fantasy world created from his own mind, he’d shared a bed for several years.  In fact only this morning he’d woken to find himself holding one of his two pillows in a loving embrace.  How was he going to tell the woman?  She had enough problems of her own, being connected to the Q Continuum.  He knew more about it than she did, but that was still pitifully little.  Doctor Andrianakis supposedly had a pivotal role in some future event.  Could he’s feelings for Phoebe jeopardize the outcome; would he hold back or make the wrong decision to save her at the cost of others?

Dervon adjusted the jacket, took one final look at himself and exited the room.

            ********** 

Lieutenant Lyanna Stuart sat on the Bridge alone, the lights dimmed to around 40% brightness.  It was unusual for a First Officer to take watch at night, but with such a small crew, the options were limited.  Resent events and their current patrol location made them wary of leaving the computer to monitor everything on its own; alerting the crew if anything happened.

The door behind her ‘whooshed’ open and Stuart didn’t need to turn to know it was her Captain arriving to kick her out of the big chair. “Anything to report number one?” He asked arriving at her side.

“Oh, nothing much really.  Couple of Syndicate Cruisers dropped in, but when they realised which ship this was, they warped away pretty sharpish.” The young Orion informed him with her cheerful Scottish accents. “And I’ve been awarded the Christopher Pike Medal of Valor. But if you can just keep that between the two of us until the ceremony.”

Devron tried his hardest not to break into a smile, but one look at his fellow officers face; as he took the Duty Padd from her was all it took.  “You’re impossible to work with when you’re bored. You do know that?” He laughed. “I relieve you, so got get some rest.”

Lieutenant Stuart vacated the captain’s chair. “I stand relieved Sir.” She gave a little curtsy. “The bridge is yours.”  

“Skedaddle.” The Captain waved his First Officer away with a dismissive yet friendly gesture of the hands. As he sat himself down in the captain’s chair, Devron had to admit this patrol was proving to be remarkably uneventful.   Considering how thinly spread the fleet was right now, it would have been expected that others would take advantage of the situation.  But in this sector at least, all seemed quiet.

            **********

In another part of the ship; C’Rren the Caitian Science Officer had just stepped out of the sonic shower in the quarters he shared with his Cardassian roommate.  The two of them got on rather well, having both been assigned to the Jaxartes at the same time and had got to know each other from day one.  Tholakath had already left; no doubt to grab breakfast.

But that didn’t mean the young Caitian ensign was alone.  No, the two of them shared their modest quarters with one other.  A small coppery coloured Tribble who’d earned the name ‘Houdini’ after making two successful escape attempts.  The first time had been the reason why he’d stayed onboard whilst the rest of his family was beamed down to a remote secret planet.  They referred to the Tribble as ‘He’ even though there was no such distinction for these small furry creatures.

Tribbles as a whole had been nothing more than a minor nuisance if not kept in check and closely monitored; until at some point during the mid-part of the 23rd century a Lieutenant by the name of Edward Larkin had took it upon himself to genetically alter these creatures in the hope of creating a vast food supply but instead turning them into a furry plague of biblical proportions.  Thankfully more recently a group of scientist after collecting a large number of them from DS9 had managed to reverse much of that genetic tinkering.

The fact that Houdini was still a lone individual and not part of a huge group; was a clear sign that by being careful and feeding them a controlled diet, they could be good pets and companions.  This Tribble in particular loved listening to C’Rren play his flute and music in general.  In fact Mozart’s The Magic Flute was currently playing.  The young Caitian was puzzled by this as he was sure no music had been playing a few minutes again.

“Computer did Ensign Tholakath select this music.” He asked as he got dressed. The computer thought about the request for a brief moment before replying with a negative.  C’Rren paused; his head only half way out of his undershirt. “Who did then?” 

“Crewman Houdini.” The computer answered. 

C’Rren pulled the top straight and plopped himself down on the bottom bunk.  That can’t be right, how could a Tribble possible activate any of the ships systems?  The computer couldn’t understand their language; in fact no one could.  He asked for confirmation and the computer gave him the same reply.  Finishing dressing swiftly he rushed off to tell his roommate about what had occurred.

            ********** 

During breakfast Ensign Tholakath kept his composure whilst his roommate described the strange goings on in their room. He appeared to display both surprise and wonderment, with a hint of scepticism thrown in for good measure; despite actually being the one behind it all.  

Only Lieutenant Stuart was there to witness the bizarre exchange between the two officers and she had the sneaking suspicion that the young Cardassian was up to something.  But as it didn’t appear to be anything that would cause harm to anyone or affect the running of the ship; she finished her drink and left them to it.

            **********

Several hours passed with absolutely nothing of note actually happening.  Until around 15:30; Ensign Tholakath picked up a small vessel on the long range scanners.  It wasn’t easy to spot in its current location orbiting a class M planet, had it been more noticeable, no doubt it would have been spotted more than an hour ago.  The planet in question was Vasileio and the ship, a Ferengi shuttle. “I can confirm the shuttle is the one previously used by DaiMon Talr.” Announced the Tactical Officer after running a detailed scan. “Shields are down, systems operating at minimal.  Not registering any life signs at present.”

“Ensign Harris, bring use in close.” Devron instructed.

“Aye Captain.” Replied the New Zealander: before altering the corvette’s course towards the planet.  They drew within a half a kilometre of the Ferengi vessel; which was maintaining a stationary position above one of the two central continents.

“Ensign Tholakath, I want you to beam over to that ship and see what you can find out.” Devron instructed. “Take crewman Tyson with you.” 

“Right on it sir.” The Cardassian replied getting up from his seat at tactical. “Armed?” 

Jason nodded. “Just in case. There’s still the cargo hold we can’t scan.”

            **********

Not long after two figures materialised aboard the Ferengi shuttle craft.  Crewman Tyson did a quick scan of the cockpit area, whilst Tholakath took a look inside the cargo area, before reporting back that the ship was indeed empty.

The two of them spent some time checking through the shuttles systems and gathering together any data they could retrieve ready for detailed analysis back aboard the Jaxartes.  There was something not right about the whole situation.  The small two person transporter could only be operated from onboard the ship; so unless there was an emergency and the crew had no intention of returning, someone would need to stay behind.  There was no indication anything had gone wrong resulting in the crew abandoning the shuttle.  So why was it empty?

Tyson signalled he’d downloaded the ships log to his PADD.  Satisfied they could do no more, and happy the vessel was in no immediate danger, Tholakath requested they be beamed back.